Cornelius and Peter visited by an angel
Cornelius was a Gentile, not a Jew. He believed in God, prayed often, and gave alms, while walking uprightly. Then one day while he was praying an angel shows up. Can you imagine what an American would do if an angel showed up while he/she was praying? The angel tells Cornelius to send for Peter and hear what he had to say to him.
While an angel is standing before Cornelius and speaking to him about Peter, God is also speaking to Peter in a vision, while Peter was praying on the rooftop of his house; Peter fell into a trance.
God showed Peter a sheet full of animals which Jews were not allowed to eat as they considered them unclean. While Peter saw this sheet full of unclean animals, he heard God speak to him, telling him to rise and eat. Peter being a devout Jew refuses on the very basis that they were unclean.
God said to Peter, “What I have cleansed, call not thou common!”
Under the Law, all things had to be set apart to God. Only certain animals were considered clean for sacrifices. There were other animals that were considered unclean and never used for sacrifices; to do so would defile the Tabernacle, and the one making the sacrifice.
Jesus Christ became the perfect sacrifice, fulfilling all the demands of the Law of Moses, so that there was no need for any other sacrifices, but Christ, as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
This means that Gentiles as well as Jews were now accepted into the Tabernacle of God. The Church that Jesus came to build would be made up of people from all tribes, nations, and tongues. Peter became the instrument to open that door of salvation to the Gentiles and Paul became the missionary that carried the message to the then known Gentile world. Cornelius’s of the world would now be acceptable into the Tabernacle of God because of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ paying for all their sins, past, present, and future.
It is interesting that today there are record numbers of Muslims receiving visions and dreams showing them Jesus Christ as the only way to eternal life. Could the Muslims provoke the Jews into turning back to Christ as their Messiah and in turn evangelize the world as recorded in the Book of Revelation? Time will tell, but there seems to be another great awakening taking place outside of the American Gentile church, which is at ease with her materialism.
Open Doors shares the following story of Rasha who is just one of many who are having visions and dreams of Jesus Christ as the true God.
Muslims Turn to Christ in Unprecedented Numbers PT.1
The life of this family was and is still hard, but recently they found light in their life.
“About three months ago, I was given a vision of Jesus Christ,” Rasha shares. “I was sleeping and all of a sudden I saw Jesus Christ in white. He said ‘I am Christ. You will have a beautiful daughter.’ I was eight months pregnant, and a month later we received our beautiful daughter.” At about the same time the husband had a dream, too. “I saw Jesus Christ. He was dressed in white. He said to me ‘I am your Savior. You will follow me.’”
Muslims are taught that there is no God besides Allah. Allah is a moon-god, or a demon disguising as a god. Muslims are deceived into praying five times a day to a false god, who serves Satan. The devil’s role has always been to steal, kill, and destroy. What are radical Muslims doing today all over the world?
Yet, God is taking that which has been considered as unclean and making it clean as they respond to His dreams and visions of Christ, confessing Him as Lord and God and the only way to eternal life.
This applies to all who have not known Jesus in a personal relationship as their Lord and Savior, and to all who have known Him as such and have grown cold, allowing the cares of this life to dampen their love for Christ.
Christ’s sacrifice makes all things clean and acceptable to Jehovah God.
What those who know Christ in a personal relationship need to do is pray that the eyes of all who do not have an active personal relationship with Christ to be opened, so they will be able to understand the Truth that is only found in Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God.
Paul said the god of this world has blinded the eyes of those who do not believe, and the same devil has blinded the eyes of those who have grown cold in their personal relationship with their Lord.
We live on enemy territory. The prince of this world rules with darkness. You feel this evil spiritual darkness when you drive into certain parts of a city, when you walk into certain establishments, when you sit in certain gatherings, and when you speak with certain individuals. You quickly make your exit.
The media, music and entertainment industries use their influence to sway our wills into choosing that which makes the flesh and carnal soul feel good for a season of time.
Our instant communications have disconnected us from face to face interactions to pics and letters on a mobile screen, leaving everyone claiming thousands of ‘likes’ and ‘friends’ through technology, while encouraging selfish behavior and lifestyles.
Lack of respect, lack of sacredness, and lack of self-control now permeates our society on every level. Common manners, courtesies, and ethics are leaving society cold and indifferent to the feelings and needs of others.
Yet, God said there is a way for all things and all people to be accepted as Holy and Sacred before Him. It is through accepting the sacrifice of His Son as the payment for our sins.
“Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:16)
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
Cornelius was saved because Peter believed God had cleansed him through Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, and because Peter obeyed God by praying for him as he shared the truth about Jesus Christ with him.
The world will be saved as the believers in Christ pray for the spiritual eyes of those who need saved and renewed to be opened to spiritual understanding of who Christ really is to them as their Lord and Savior. Only after they see the ‘Light of the Gospel’ will they be opened to receive the testimony of a Peter.
Only when Rasha began to doubt his present beliefs, and begin to search for Truth, did Jesus show up in white and say, ‘I am Christ.” You can be assured that there were countless prayers going up around the world from sincere believers in Christ, that God would reveal Himself to Muslims as their way to eternal life.
The prayers and intercessions of the saints influence God as the media, and the world influences the choices that man, woman and child choose to make in this world. Only God can open a heart to believe in Him. Only Christ is the author of faith. Only the Father can reveal who the Son is and only Jesus can draw all men whoever they may be to Himself as He is lifted up through the prayers of those who will stand in the gap for the unsaved and those who have allowed their love for Christ to grow cold.
As Muslims are lifting up a moon-god five times each day around the world, including in America; while Christians are busy with their materialistic lifestyles, the sacredness of all that God has cleansed by the Blood of Jesus Christ is being defiled by the lack of the fear of God around the world. Where do you think this is going to lead us? Armageddon is exactly right.
It is time for believers to lift up their voices like never before in intercession for all men who do not know Jesus Christ as the only way to eternal life. Take a stand and give your testimony as God opens doors for you, and make a commitment to pray for the eyes of the spiritually blind to see who Jesus Christ really is before the Antichrist arrives to deceive the whole world into worshiping him as god.
